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[Reprinted from The Beta Theta Pi] 
Vol. XXXIX, No. 3, January, 191 2 J 



Price 5c. 



By Geo. M. Chandler, Michigan, '98, 

(Second Article.) 

Copyright 19 12 by the Beta Publishing Company.* 

THE Beta Theta Pi for November, 19 10, contained under 
the above title a short history of the various Beta devices 
beginning with the badge and concluding with a series of 
pictures of eighteen coats of arms for as many different chapters, 



it ^ /.Q-) 




Amherst 




Beloit 



In that article the system on which the chapter arms were devised, 
was described, the parent chapter bearing the fraternity arms 
unchanged but with a motto whose initial letter was Alpha and 
the nine oldest chapters bearing the fraternity arms differenced as. 
for the nine sons in a family. There being in heraldry but nine 
marks of cadency and Michigan being the tenth chapter her arms 
were made by displaying the fraternity arms with the university 
arms charged on the first quarter with a motto whose initial letter 
was the chapter letter. Other chapters displayed suitable devices 
such as Brown, the anchor of Rhode Island and St. Lawrence, the 

*This copyiight includes the illustrations singly or together and their unauthorized repro- 
duction or imitation is forbidden. — ^Ed. , 



194 



Bwto GviTfa IK 




Bethany 




Boston 





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'CLA309118 






The Heraldry of Beta Theta Pi 



T 95 



» five lyres of the old local society. Now under authority from the 
^ board of trustees the series has been finished and each of the chap- 
^ ters is provided with a suitable coat of arms. 

Diligent search has been made in each case for a suitable 

Ty^device. The college and state seals have been procured, the 

* history of the institution and of the chapter has been investigated, 

the heraldic bearings of the founder of the colony or state, of the 

founder or benefactor of the college, of the founder or perhaps most 




Colorado Mines 



prominent member of the chapter have been looked up in order 
that the most appropriate charge might be found. In most cases 
an excellent symbol was finally decided upon. In some others the 
selection was a harder task, but it is believed that the whole series 
as finally arranged will prove satisfactory and that in a few years 
each chapter's arms will be as familiar in its vicinity as our frater- 
nity arms now seem to be in the college world. 

In the series following the arms of the Amherst chapter show 
the origin of the chapter, for the first quarter displays the old 
Torch and Crown, of the local society. Boston shows, like the 
university seal, the masterpiece of the first American architect, the 
golden dome of the State House by the great Bullfinch. Dart- 



196 



Brfo O^cc IE 




Colgate 



Columbia 





Cornell 



Dartmouth 



The Heraldry of Beta Theta Pi 



197 



mouth displays the device of the Earl of Dartmouth, a stag's head; 
Maine displays her historic pine tree. 

Columbia, proud of her origin and old name "Kings" has chosen 
the crown of King George III; Stevens, at Brother Baird's insis- 
tence after he had forbidden the use of his own arms, uses the 
castellated gateway of the old Stevens Castle Point estate, and 
Yale shows her university arms, the open book. 

Colgate uses the family device of her benefactors, the Colgates, 




Davidson 




and charges with an escallop or shell. Cornell, to show that she is 
proud of her support from the national government as a "land 
grant college" displays an eagle. Syracuse uses the device of the 
ancient Sicilian city of that name, a dolphin the king of fishes, and 
Union takes from her college seal the serpent involved or with his 
tail in his mouth, the symbol of eternity. 

Dickinson shows a demi lion rampant, the crest of John Dickin- 
son framer of the Constitution and patron of learning for whom 
the college was named. Johns Hopkins uses the cross trefle from 
Lord Baltimore's arms which are also used by the university; 
Lehigh, the book, heart and sun from her college arms, and Penn- 
sylvania her well known pile of books. 



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Dickinson 





Hanover 



Hampden-Sidney 



The Heraldry of Beta Theta Pi 



*9) 



Davidson goes to the college arms for the sword of the Roman 
legionary ; Hampden-Sidney shows the broad arrow of the British 
Admiralty and for the same reason, it is the device of the Sidney 
family one of whose members was once Master of Ordnance and 
for safe keeping had all stores for which he was responsible marked 
with his device. North Carolina uses the cornucopia or horn of 
plenty from the State arms, and Virginia, the device of the man 
whose tombstone says nothing of his being twice president of the 




Illinois 



United States but records the fact that he was father of the Univer- 
sity of Virginia, the fret of Thomas Jefferson. 

Bethany displays the bow from the college seal and recalls the 
relation of bow to string and college to chapter, "useless each 
without the other." Pennsylvania State uses the well known 
keystone with the three rondels of William Penn, and West Vir- 
ginia, the little mountain state, the mountain from the state and 
college seals. 

Central harks back to its proud dragon from the catalogue of 
1 88 1 . Ohio State uses the pyramid from the university seal, while 
Wittenberg shows the Gothic doorway of the old castle church at 



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Iowa Wesleyan 




Johns Hopkins 




Knox 



The Heraldry oj Beta Theta Pi 



201 



Wittenberg with Luther's scrolls on which were written the ninety- 
five theses nailed to the doors. 

Case has the globe of science from the institution's seal and 
Denison in defiance of Dr. Shepardson's protest, displays a 
Shepherd's crook. After brother Robb's solemn statement that 
his family had no arms and brother Wambaugh's refusal to discuss 
the matter, Ohio Wesleyan uses the urn from the catalogue of 1881. 
Brother Hanna was not consulted as to his desires and Wooster 





Lehigh 



displays the cross stuck through the infidel crescent, the proud and 
pious device of his crusader ancestor. 

Hanover bears the three leaved clover of the old kingdom whose 
name it has. Purdue shows the gear wheel from the college seal 
and Wabash the altar from its engraving in the catalogue of 1881. 

Beloit, grounded in the sturdy Presbyterian-Congregational 
tradition and having the saltire or Chi cross for a chapter letter, 
adopts a St. Andrew's cross fleurie. Illinois uses the convention- 
alized Beta rose. Brother Sisson refusing to report upon his 
family arms, Knox displays the torch of knowledge from the col- 
lege seal. Northwestern bears the symbol of strength, an oak 
sprig, and Wisconsin takes her well known badger. 



202 



B#r<x ®#ra IK 




Maine 



^osjrolsjvooijio^ 

Michigan 





Missouri 



The Heraldry of Beta Theta Pi 



203 



Iowa uses her state hawk and Iowa State the three headed 
serpent of the old local society,while Iowa Wesleyan bears an Indian 
arrow pointed upward. Minnesota displays a sheaf of wheat and 
Nebraska an ear of com. 

Kansas uses her sunflower, Missouri the six columns of the old 
main building still standing on the campus and about whose bases 
the university life clusters, and Oklahoma the war bonneted head 
of the noble red man. Vanderbilt displays a warrior's helmet 




North Carolina 




Northwestern 



recalling the righting in the ''dark and bloody ground," Washington 
University the fleur-de-lis of St. Louis IX for whom their city was 
named, and Westminster forgets the sword of border warfare and 
bears the mightier emblem of the classical college, a quill pen. 

Colorado chose the three mountains which the state arms dis- 
play and Colorado Mines the crossed pick and sledge of the mining 
engineer which the institution's seal shows. Denver shows the 
fasces from the arms of the State. 

Stanford shows its familiar memorial arch. Washington State, 
having in mind Seattle's claim as the north Pacific's gateway, dis- 
plays a portcullis. Oregon stands by with the battle axe as the 
guardian although "fifty-four forty" is a thing of the past and 



204 



Bgta Qnta IE 










I^y^Sa^s__.-^K^) 



Ohio State 




Ohio Wesleyan 




Oklahoma 



The Heraldry oj Beta Theta Pi 



205 



peace and prosperity reign in that region as well as wherever the 
Beta arms are displayed. 

Now that the drawings are in the hands of the engraver and the 
reason for choosing each device has been recorded, I cannot refrain 
from thinking of the pleasure which the work has given me. The 
searching for and correspondence over each device has taken a lot 
of my time and the actual drawings of the accepted design has 
taken a lot of the firm's drafting room's time and has run into a 




Oregon 




Pennsylvania 



considerable sum of money, but I guess it is all worth while. 
Hanna used to say that during the years of work that went into the 
catalogue of 1899 the thing which sustained him was the almost 
daily uncovering of some lost member whose Beta spirit proved to 
be as present and as fresh as during his undergraduate days and I 
have so found it. 

The correspondence has ranged in volume from a letter on my 
part and no answer from the chapter to a long and pleasant ex- 
change of letters. I particularly enjoyed the correspondence with 
the undergraduates of Alpha Gamma, Beta Phi and two or three 
others and with graduates of a half dozen chapters. The cor- 
respondence with a graduate of Alpha Lambda was technical to 



206 



B£*tt G>fa<t IE 




Pennsylvania State 





Stanford 




The Heraldry of Beta Theta Pi 



207 



the last degree and anyone not a herald would have found it about 
as lucid as I did a "Treatise on the Theory of the Universal Ether" 
which I attempted to read the other day. I thought I had just 
the barest outline of mathematics in my head until I tried that. 

A letter to a graduate of Phi whom I had not seen for thirteen 
years brought forth a gem and made the whole world look saner 
and happier. Then there were disappointments. Imagine Baird 
refusing the use of his family bear for Stevens because he was not 





entitled to that honor in his own chapter not being its founder and 
Shepardson still growling because he was overruled as to a shep- 
herd's crook for Alpha Eta. 

And the mottos! We had a lot of fun over them. First I 
borrowed Captain Spaulding's lexicon (we were visiting at the Fort 
Sheridan at the time) and started after them myself, I got verbs and 
nouns, nominatives and objectives, masculines and feminines hope- 
lessly mixed. I cried for mercy and my military brother-in-law 
sat down with his sword and spurs on and his battery entraining 
for summer camp under the direction of the first lieutenant while 
he took my pencil and from memory put things right so Cal. Hanna 
himself couldn't change the accents. 



208 



B#ra 0ifra IE 




Vanderbilt 




Virginia 




Westminster 




Wooster 



The Heraldry of Beta Theta Pi 



209 



Hanna was busy so I next retained Prof. Hatfield at North- 
western as consulting Greek expert but I couldn't do much with 
him. He insisted on making all his suggestions in the form of 
orders and in the language of the Navy Department as though the 
calender still said 1898 and we were both still in the service. So I 
courtmartialed and "broke" him and turned the whole matter over 
to Hanna, time or no time. 

Hanna went on his vacation to northern Michigan and lived in 





Washington State 



a shanty in the woods, wore a flannel shirt and did his own cooking 
but he took along a lexicon, a block of paper and a pencil and when 
the dishes were washed and all was quiet he wrote Greek mottoes 
by the light of a candle until he had done sixty-one of them and the 
job was completed. 

For some of the chapters I had a hard time with the choice of a 
device. At Amherst I wanted to use the tilting spear of Sir 
Heffery Amherst, as the Dekes have done in their chapter armory, 
but finally took the device of the old local society. At Columbia, 
Baird wanted a liberty cap, but the chapter chose the crown which 
is really the Columbia device. At St. Lawrence the gridiron of the 
saint was an attractive symbol but the five lyres seemed better. 



2IO 



BjJVcc 0^a IE 




West Virginia 





The Heraldry of Beta Theta Pi 



211 



For Ohio State the lantern of the college paper met with favor, but 
the solidity of the pyramid seemed better and at Wisconsin the eye 
of the college seal was finally discarded for the State's badger. 

Only two other fraternities possess a series of the chapter 
heraldry. Delta Kappa Epsilon at Dartmouth, Columbia and 
Minnesota use the same devices which we do and for the same 
reason, they are in each case the obvious symbol. Psi Upsilon 
similarlv uses the anchor for Brown. The latter also uses a fleur- 




Wittenberg 



de-lis for Harvard which is rather a curious coincidence. Our 
fleur-de-lis is the mark of cadency for the sixth of the house while 
theirs is purely arbitrary. 

Should other fraternities devise chapter arms it will be interest- 
ing to note their selections. Some of our devices could well be 
made to represent the institution in any fraternity while others 
pertain to Beta Theta Pi alone. 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



FEB J 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 165 451 8 






Hollinger Corp. 
pH 8.5 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 165 451 8 




Hollinger Corp. 
pH 8.5 



